Alice Blog

Your Secret

Question:

Dear PRN, I think that you are a great writer and that i love the Alice series. I know that you hear that really often and that it’s probably getting old, but i just thought i’d let you know. I finished Intensely Alice a few months ago and i think that you captured everything perfectly. The emotion, plot, thought, EVERYTHING. I am actually e-mailing you for advice. I want to be a poet, and have been working at it for some time. But, lately i have had inspiration block. I have plenty of rhymes and rhythems running through my head, but i can’t place them in any particular order or poem. I was wondering how you got your inspiration. I know that you are supposed to write about what you know and use life experience and all that, but nothing goes on here in small-town USA. I can’t afford to have life experiences. Anyway, i would really appreciate it if you gave me the secret behind your pieces of perfection (i know that it sounds like i’m kissing up, but i’m just telling it like it is).

Phyllis replied:

One of the most difficult things to explain to beginning writers is that there is no secret, no magic, no back door to writing or to getting published. Just patience, hard work, and keeping at it. I’m not a poet, so I can’t speak with authority on how poets get their inspiration. I can’t even speak with authority on how writers get theirs, because we’re all different. Poems are about feelings and observations too, aren’t they, not just experiences? What does it feel like to be a small-town girl who feels she hasn’t had much experience? How does sadness feel? Envy? Delight? What pleases you? What do you worry about? Your own feelings are your gold mine.

Posted on: September 5, 2009

What Made U Write them?

Question:

I just cannot wait. I love Ur Alice books. i used 2 not read but then i read Ur Alice books and loved them. i have no brothers or sisters so Alice and Lester are like my brother and sister. i finished the whole series in 4 months. Thank u a so much for writing them. What made u want to write the Alice books? type back if u can, u probably get A LOT of fan mail.

Phyllis replied:

I originally just wanted to write a book about a girl growing up without a mother, looking for a role model. But readers convinced me to make it a series, so later I began writing more books about Alice.

Posted on: September 5, 2009

Books in Order

Question:

The alice in your book is like exactlly like me! i mean i have a boyfriend named patrick and everything lol but my mom is still alive and my parents are together and everything, but with the whole boyfriend thing and school thing… i mean wow! i really think that is cool. And i was wondering sence im new to the books if you sould tell me what the books are in order

Phyllis replied:

Please go to the home page of the Alice blog. At the very top of the page, in the middle of the line, you will see “The books in order.” Click on that.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

I Like Them Both

Question:

Hey PN i need help. i have a bf that i really like but he lives an hour away && i hardly get 2 see him. we have been dating 4 almost 4 months but early 2day i was texting this guy i used 2 like.so while i was talking 2 him i realized that i still like him. but he told me he likes this other girl who is a freshman (we r sophomores). i still like my bf 2 but now i realized that i like them both. please help

Phyllis replied:

Help you do what? So you like both guys. That’s what being a teen and going out with guys is all about–helping you sort out little differences–what appeals, what doesn’t, how you like to be treated, how you don’t, how you show concern for the person you’re with, how you deal with disagreements….all these things are practice for eventually, perhaps, settling down with one particular person. If you feel attracted to more than one guy, be honest with your boyfriend and tell him you want to play the field, and of course he gets permission to do the same. It’s possible to like and even to love more than one person at a time. But growing up eventually means being willing to commit to one person, or deciding that you want to live your life a different way and being honest about it. Trying to stay loyal to a boyfriend you seldom see is probably not a good idea, and something the two of you need to talk over.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

Do You Choose the Book Covers?

Question:

Hi Mrs. Naylor, I just finished reading Intensely Alice, And I loved it! I was wondering are you writing anymore Alice books or is this the last one? If you are when is it coming out? I love your Alice books so much, I was able to read all 21 of them in 2 months. Seeing that you can’t write Alice books forever, I think you should atleast write them till Alice gets married and has kids. (And Lester to!) I was also wondering who do you choose to be on your book covers? And how does all of that work out? Do you take the pictures yourself and put them

on the cover? I think it would be really neat if I was able to e-mail the girl thats on all of the book covers. I would love to hear back from you!

Phyllis replied:

Intensely Alice is the latest, but not the last, of the Alice series. The very last book, “Always Alice,” will be published in 2013, and will take Alice from age 18 to age 60, touching the highpoints of her life. I’m amazed that you read 21 books in 2 months. There are actually 25 in print, so you still have some reading to do. I don’t take the cover photos and don’t know the names of the models who posed. The publisher hires the models, but I get to pass on which ones we use.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

Question:

what is the theme of the book alice the brave? i have been thinking of it and can’t come to a conclusion

Phyllis replied:

Sorry. I can’t do your homework for you.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

What Religion?

Question:

Hi I’m a huge fan of your books and I love Intensely Alice .Actually when I bought the book from chapters I had a laughing fit.The people at the starbucks next to it must of thought I was a freak.

Well in the books you mention that Elizabeth was Catholic and through out the series I’ve been wondering what religion Alice,Pamela and Patrick were.

Phyllis replied:

I try not to be too specific about many things in the Alice books so that readers can make their own deductions. I think the only religious denomination I’ve mentioned by name is Elizabeth’s Catholicism.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

Cool!

Question:

Hi there! I don’t really have a question or anything, but I took a road trip to Washington DC a few weeks ago (I’m from a suburb of Cleveland, OH), and on the way there I was delighted to see signs for “Alice Cities” like Rockville, Gaithersburg, and of course Silver Spring. I was sooo tempted to get off at the Silver Spring exit and explore, but my friend in the car with me wouldn’t have understood. Anyway, I just thought it was pretty cool! 🙂

Phyllis replied:

I know what you mean. I’ve felt the same way when I go through cities that have appeared in books.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

I’m Too Young for Alice

Question:

hi PRN i live in indonesia and i love your alice series

in indonesia there just 12 books(the angony of alice, alice in the rapture sort of, all but alice, alice in april, alice in between, alice the brave, outrageously alice, achingly alice, alice on the outside, alice alone, simply alice, and including alice) i love them so much and i wanted to buy it all but my mum said that im too young for alice … so im waiting my birthday and i’ll waiting until i getting older. (i have to buy it all and i dont care how)i soooo hope that i can read intensely alice soon. i just wanna say i love them

(sory about my english)

Phyllis replied:

Your English is fine, and it was good to hear from you. If you can find them in Indonesia, I think your mum would be happy to let you read the first three books in the series–“Starting with Alice,” “Alice in Blunderland,” and “Lovingly Alice.” In these books, Alice is in 3rd grade, 4th grade and 5th. I know she is much younger in these books than you are, but even girls in their teens love to read about Alice as a very young girl, and Lester as a young teenager.

Posted on: August 31, 2009

Buy the Entire Set?

Question:

I’m 24 years old and I just started reading your books a couple months ago. I’ve always been a reader and when I was at the library with a friend I just randomly by some chance of pure luck picked up Dangerously Alice. After reading that book I was hooked! When I realized it was part of such an amazing series I had my library order all the books in that series for me. Your an amazing writer! I’ve laughed and sat there crying my eyes out in parts. I wish I would have know about your series when I was younger, cause I think your Alice series would make a huge difference in my life! After reading other peoples comments I’m absolutely positive it does make a difference! Here’s my questions though! When does the book after Intensely Alice come out? And Do you know of any website and/or place I could buy the entire set from? I would love to have these books around for when my neices get older and also when I start having children of my own! I know your only going to have 28 books in your series, but I seriously think you should have more! Like I said I’m 24 year old, but even reading about Alice in the begining, like Starting w/ Alice and Lovingly Alice. I was hooked! Thanks for an amazing series!

Phyllis replied:

I’ll check with my editor and see if Atheneum will eventually offer these books in a set, or in separate sets. I know that you can buy 4 of the books as a set, titled “The Wonderful World of Alice,” which includes “Agony of Alice,” “Alice in Rapture, Sort Of,” “Reluctantly Alice,” and “All but Alice.” I imagine that after I end the series, with book #28 , the publisher will have some way for customers to order the whole set in paperback. Whenever I get a definite answer as to the publisher’s plans, I’ll put it on this page. The next book, to follow “Intensely Alice,” is titled “Alice in Charge,” and will be out in June of 2010.

Posted on: August 31, 2009